'Olive Garden' Food Critic Reviews McDonald's

An 88-year-old woman in Grand Forks, North Dakota, seems to have cemented herself as America's favorite food critic with her latest no-nonsense assessment—of McDonald's. (She likes it.) Marilyn Hagerty first became Internet famous in 2012 after writing a review of her local Olive Garden, and reviewers of her reviews seem to have settled on one word to describe them: "earnest." See People, the Huffington Post, and Jezebel, the latter of which adoringly calls Hagerty an "American Hero Food Critic" in its headline. Some samples from the review in the Grand Forks Herald of her visits to four local McDonald's:

• "My first visit was to McDonald's on S. Washington Street, where I ordered a senior coffee for 47 cents one morning. And with it I had a sausage egg McMuffin. That was $2.99 and a whopping 370 calories. You know you have eaten, and I like the combination. The coffee, which is McDonald's brand, was strong and not too hot."
• "The lattes cost less than those I enjoy at Starbucks. But they are worthy. The only problem is occasionally, one of the restaurants will tell you their machine is not working. 'Not working?' I think. I almost foam at the mouth in disgust, but I try to be pleasant."
• "My visit to the McDonald's near Columbia Mall is where I enjoyed my secret sin—a big Mac for $4.39. Something I do once every couple of years. But they help to fill up active, working people. They almost overwhelm lethargic people like me."

(More restaurant review stories.)